No, but when I got mine, the knee lever stuck a bit, so it was either stopped, or full speed ahead. I oiled the hinges of the knee lever and now it's very smooth. Mine also has a speed control switch. I can flip it to fast or slow. It's a little toggle switch on the right side of the base plate. You might find information by joining the Necchi group in yahoo groups that was linked earlier in this thread. There is a lot of information there, manuals, etc